Review: Monsters Love Gum - Hungry Hungry Monsters? - Plus Win A Copy!
by Staff Writer
September 24, 2010
Overview
Did you know that Monsters Love Gum? Well apparently they do in the form of gum balls, and are ravenous for it. The game is similar to the classic board game Hungry Hungry Hippos, but with more variation, and some weaponry. We gave you a sneak peek, and now it’s time for the full review.
Features
There are two game modes with the first being battle mode where you try to be the first to eat the given number of gum balls, 10, 20, or 30. The other mode is hoarder mode where you can only eat the color gum ball of the pedestal you’re on, and any other color takes gum balls away. During both modes there are bonus balls that let you drop bomb balls, drop electric balls, tilt the board, and smash incoming bad balls. You can play solo or with up to three others all on the same iPad, and there are four different monsters to play with. Each monster has a different speed and reach of eating gum balls. OpenFeint is included for online high scores and achievements, and you can play sudden death, best of three, or best of seven.
The Good
Monsters Love Gum improves on the winning formula of Hungry Hungry Hippos by adding more elements to it. There is still the same frantic fun of pressing over and over to gather in the most balls, and now it's just a tap on the iPad instead of pushing the physical lever on the Hippo. First off depending on what monster you play with changes the strategy of the game, and so does each mode. Battle mode is the classic tapping as fast as you can while Hoarder mode requires quite a bit more patience. Luckily in either mode you can go on the offensive sending out attack balls to others as well as defending yourself. You have to be conscious of who's in the lead, and try to throw them off a bit, but also beware of your opponents attacking you.
The game has a challenging AI, but the game was meant to be played with others. It's great with friends gathered around the iPad all tapping furiously in battle mode, or manipulating the board in hoarder mode. The game is designed really well with high quality production values on the board itself, and the monster eating animations.
The Bad
The battle mode is fast paced fun, but the hoarder mode is too tedious, and is more annoying than anything else. It never seems that the right colored balls are around you, and whenever they come close another player uses a tornado clearing the board. The classic game style wasn't meant to be played carefully, and when you do so you miss out on the bonus balls as well.
The gameplay is somewhat repetitive just like the board game, but if you have friends to play with it's fresh every time. It would be nice to have more control on who you send the attack balls to.
